Józef Szwejk as a theater hero. Stage adaptations of Jaroslav Hašek's novel in Polish theaters during the Second Polish Republic

Abstract

The subject of the article are the first Polish theater adaptations of Jaroslav Hašek's novel The Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk during World War II and their stagings. These were premieres from the period 1929-1930 at the Municipal Theater in Łódź, the Theater. Juliusz Słowacki in Krakow, the Polish Theater in Poznań, the Polish Theater in Warsaw and the Rozmaitości Theater in Lviv. They were developed by outstanding Polish writers - Józef Wittlin, Marian Hemar and Emil Zegadłowicz, partly based on the German adaptation by Jan Reimann and Maks Brod. The directors were Leon Schiller, Teofil Trzciński, Stanisława Wysocka and Karol Borowski. The title roles were played by Michał Znicz, Stefan Jaracz and Franciszek Biesiadecki. The Warsaw production was the most successful. It reached 79 performances. Adaptations of the novel aroused the interest of theater critics.

The first translation of the literary original was made by Paweł Hulka-Laskowski in 1927-1931. The dramatic adaptations resulted in the additional dissemination of the very popular novel and the title character among Polish audiences. The aim of the article is to determine their importance in our theater tradition. Subsequent stage adaptations of The Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk during World War I began to be performed in Poland only after World War II.